The present disclosure is directed to a hermetically sealed connector for use in oil well logging tools, and particularly those which are used in extremely high pressures and temperatures. This device typically finds application making connections within a sonde of a down hole oil well logging tool which is lowered in a well to depths were ambient temperatures are 500.degree. F. or greater, and the ambient pressure can be as high as 25,000 or perhaps 28,000 psi.
The present invention relates to electrical hermetic connectors for use in subsurface, high temperature and pressure applications. For example, tools used in logging oil wells consist of various electronic instruments contained within pressure housings and maintained at atmospheric pressure. The electronics inside the pressure housing requires a hermetic type electrical connector which interconnects with electrical conductors in a wireline to maintain communications with electronic instruments at the surface. The hermetic connector can be either a single-pin or multi-pin type depending upon the specific application. Furthermore, the connectors must easily connect and disconnect and function as electrical conductors in extreme hostile liquid environments such as brine, oil base drilling mud and fluids that may contain hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, methane, and other elements at pressures to 28,000 psi and temperatures to 510.degree. F.
The connector must be constructed in such a way as to assemble into a bulkhead and provide a hermetic seal capable of withstanding high differential pressures to 28,000 psi at 510.degree. F. while at the same time carry high voltages. Typically, when the connector is exposed to the borehole fluids, a rubber boot seal is used that fits over the male end of the connector providing a total moisture-free seal for the conductive pin (or pins). When the connector is used inside the tool, it may be sealing against hydraulic oil used to hydrostatic pressure balance the mechanical section of the tool. In this case, the connector must be capable of withstanding high differential pressure without the rubber boot seal.